Warsaw, August 2019
Tbilisi, April 2020
Vilnius, June 2020
Tbilisi, April 2020
Vilnius, June 2020
With our eVilnius workshop we just finished the SOFA year of 2019/2020. Out of our three residential workshops, two had to happen digitally, but we are all sure that it was the right decision to continue online and to develop the projects, instead of stopping or postponing, as your ideas, dear participants, are very much on demand now! Our new call is now closed and the team of SOFA is currently studying every single application very carefully. We will contact all applicants, soon. Thank you very much! 
Today, the third and final workshop part of started that will exceptionally be held online til June 20, 2020. Thanks to the amazing support by Rolandas Kvietkauskas, director of the Lithuanian Films Centre, even the pandemic couldn’t stop the last workshop for the SOFA Class 2019/2020.Financing is the main topic of this five day intensive training that Juliane Schulze and Thierry Baujard from from Media Deals (Germany) provide to our six participants. On the final day, participants will present their project ideas to investors and representatives from German Federal Foreign Office and Creative Europe MEDIA Programme. 
For the third time, SOFA – School of Film Advancement will provide participants with the chance to pitch their projects in front of experienced private investors and representatives of European public film funds. Originally planned to be hosted again in Vilnius, Lithuania, the workshop will exceptionally be realized online from June 15-20, 2020 due to the measures to control the spread of the Coronavirus. Also in this new constellation, the reshaped “eVilnius” workshop will present its participants and their cultural projects direct access to potential financing partners from the public and private sector. Learn more about the upcoming event in our recent press release: DOWNLOAD. 
Despite the Covid lockdown, our fantastic photographer Ali Ghandtschi was able, with distance photography and the help of many great helpers, to portray our participants at their respective home locations. Here they tell not only about their experiences with the pandemic, but also about their projects, which they are making a reality with SOFA. Visit our Facebook page and learn more. Max von Matthiessen edited and directed these amazing portrait films. 
For its 8th edition, SOFA – School of Film Advancement invites up to eight participants to intense workshops that will take place in Warsaw (August 16 – 21, 2020)*, Tbilisi (April 2021)* and Vilnius (June 2021)*. We support film initiators, cultural managers, entrepreneurs, facilitators and catalysts with unique project ideas in the audiovisual world. Selected participants will be trained in various creative fashions to reach local and international cinemagoers and will be given the opportunity to make ties beyond borders. With the help of experienced lecturers SOFA participants will receive a tailormade coaching which enables them to effi ciently realise their dream project. Our workshops connect the participants with decisionmakers and high level professionals in the audiovisual industry. The rest is up to you – make your dream come true! Find all infos on how to apply in this PDF. 
What a great online premiere! Today, the e-Tbilisi workshop of SOFA – School of Film Advancement endet for our amazing six participants and their mentors. But wait! There’s more! Your SOFA experience will continue in our Vilnius workshop, soon. ☺️ Thank you all for making the past few days such a wonderful experience, all together, far away, but intimate. Thank you all for your energy, will, experience, personality, wit, intelligence and dedication! We’ll meet again, soon! 
An in-depth workshop discussion on the role of a creative producer was the main focus of SOFA’s Facebook live stream last Tuesday 28 April: Even before the great international success of „Toni Erdmann“, the Berlin film production company Komplizen Film was already one of the leading creative forces in Europe. In conversation with SOFA – School of Film Advancement tutor and MEDICI Head of Training Tamara Tatishvili and producer and managing director Jonas Dornbach talked about his experiences in the glorious past and the challenging present. This public event was part of the Georgian SOFA workshop 2020 from 25 to 30 April that unfortunately could not take place physically in beautiful Tbilisi, but in digital virtuality. 
SOFA – School of Film Advancement has started! This was not a given, due to the global situation. But we were not intimidated and went online with „e-Tbilisi“. The first day of the workshop hit the ground running with a lot of energy, wit and dedication by participants, mentors and team. Everybody seems quite happy to be part of such a productive bunch! #SOFAproud
„Cinema is never going to disappear, but our sector is going to change, and I am happy, and also feel very responsible, that we can help new players who have a desire to develop the audiovisual sector, reflect on the new context of cinema, and find new ways and solutions to connect the audiences to content.“ SOFA – School of Film Advancement founder and director Nikolaj Nikitin talked to Cineuropa about the upcoming edition of the pan-European workshop initiative. SOFA – School of Film Advancement founder and director Nikolaj Nikitin and tutor Oliver Baumgarten joined together in a…
Gepostet von SOFA – School of Film Advancement am Mittwoch, 22. April 2020
SOFA – School of Film Advancement presents SOFAkino – a selection of the very best Eastern European movies of the last decades. All of them are available in several countries via stream and homemedia. First up is the fantastic NOVEMBER (2017) by Rainer Sarnet. An incredible, cinematic journey into a village in Estonia: Werewolves, ghosts and the plague do their mischief while the farmers try to survive the winter. And for that every measure is right! People steal, cheat, sell their souls. And they build „Kratts“, Estonian golem-like creatures from household items that have an sinister sense of humour. In this strange world two young people meet and experience a November full of strange events. The Estonian-Polish co-production is available on several streaming services in many countries like iTunes, Amazon Prime or Videobuster. It is also available on Blu-ray & DVD. Visit us at Facebook for more SOFAkino.
Due to the Corona pandemic the entire film industry is in the midst of its greatest crisis; the path to this point has been a rapid and breathtaking one. Here are some suggestions for first actions: ● If possible by any means: stay home! ● Look out for streaming services and distributors that support local cinemas with their streaming revenues. ● Support your cinemas by buying vouchers now. ● Deliberately do not returning tickets that you have already purchased for concerts, cinema screenings etc. ● Look out for great Eastern European movies like in this list. ● Visit the websites and social media channels of your cinemas to see if there are other options like donations. ● Not to mention: Your cinema and all its staff are always happy for every kind word that reaches them right now. We are all in this together. SOFA – School of Film Advancement has practiced co-working and E-learning in the past and… it works folks! Updates on our Tbilisi workshop will follow, soon. Stay safe and sound! We’ll be back! 
What a great reunion! Many dear friends, partners and alumni flocked together today at the SOFA reception at Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival. It was amazing to see that several SOFA participants of the very first workshop in 2013 joined us as well. And several „special“ guests: One of them was Ukrainian filmmaker, writer and activist Oleg Sentsov who was just released in September 2019 after his imprisonment ordered by a Russian court in 2015 on charges of plotting terrorism acts. The conviction was described as fabricated by Amnesty International. 
The SOFA family wishes everybody just the best for the holidays (whichever it might be) and the New Year (whenever it might start)! We don’t want to get political, but in the world we live in, surely art and especially cinema – as the highest art form – is the only solution! So, we all at SOFA will keep fighting to make the world a better place with a lively cinema.
Therefore: Don’t sit on the couch, join us on SOFA and advance your dream project in 2020! Make your vision become reality! Our new call for proposals will reach you all cultural entrepreneurs out there in the spring.
SOFA founder and director Nikolaj Nikitin is currently traveling Eastern Europe, meeting dear SOFA participants, friends and partners all along the way. Many of them shared good news with him like Victoria Leshchenko who was just promoted to program director of the amazing Docudays Ua festival or SOFA alumna Tekla Machavariani, who was just awarded as Emerging Producer 2020 in Jihlava. Meanwhile in Prague, Terezie Krizkovska and Adéla Mrázová, founders of the SOFA project NaFilM: Národní filmové muzeum celebrate dramatically increasing visitor numbers. 
For the second time, SOFA – School of Film Advancement invited selected alumni to wonderful Vilnius, Lithuania to present their SOFA projects in front of experienced private investors and representatives of European public film funds.
The five SOFA alumni are: Angelos Tsaousis and Andromachi Papaioannou (Greece), Dániel Deák (Hungary), Eva Brazdžionytė (Lithuania) and Marat Parkhomovsky (Israel). You can find regular news about this workshop on our Facebook page. Foto: Audrius Solominas 
The seventh edition of SOFA – School of Film Advancement has started and six amazing talents flocked together to meet their tutors. The first day of our workshop started with the introductions of every project by the SOFA participants. With the first working sessions and individual meetings with tutors Oliver Baumgarten, Ewa Puszczyńska and Christine von Fragstein this challenging „week of wonders“ is now officially up and running. Find more insights to the workshop week on our Facebook page. 
SOFA – SCHOOL OF FILM ADVANCEMENT reveals the new line-up of its
7th edition at Odesa International Film Festival. With its tailor-made workshops and hand-picked internationally renowned mentors, SOFA jumpstarts the projects and careers of a new generation of film professionals who will shape the future of their industries. With its unique
focus on Middle and Eastern Europe, Germany, Greece, Israel, Central Asia, the republics of Caucasus and the MENA region, SOFA selects projects that promote and support the region’s national film industries, its films and cinematic heritage. Learn more about this six amazing talents and their projects for the future of cinema on our website. Welcome to SOFA! 
Film is the most flexible art form of our times. With every new invention in the digital audio-visual industry, the art form film adapts itself to the technology’s specific demands. Cinema as a cultural and social place has been film’s favourite spot and
media for over a century – but, for many years now, it’s by no means the only one. Therefore SOFA commits itself to the advancement of the art form film on any given platform, by supporting projects that further explore film’s potential in the audio-visual industry and guide it towards new audiences. Once selected for SOFA, the participants enroll in a training programme dedicated to the very needs to bring their ideas to life. Therefore, SOFA becomes School of Film Advancement! 
Dear SOFA friends, alumni, experts and partners around the world and especially dear applicants for the upcoming 2019/2020 edition! Thanks a lot for all your support in spreading the word about our submission deadline and sending us all your great applications!
We’re very excited that we have received a great amount of very exciting, diverse, innovative and geographically balanced applications which give us a glimpse into the future of cinema and AV sector. Amazing projects that will develope your national and regional creative, entrepreneurial field as well as the international. Please give our Head of Studies Nikolaj Nikitin and his team some now time to review all applications and get back to you. You all will hear personally back from us latest by end of June! Thank you very much! 
The third edition of the Tbilisi SOFA workshop takes place in the beautiful Georgian capital from April 1 – 6 2019. The participants of the 2018/2019 edition: Eva Brazdžionytė (Lithuania), Agnieszka Kruk (Poland), Victoria Leshchenko (Ukraine), Marat Parkhomovsky (Israel), Róbert Vámos (Hungary) and Natia Nikoleishvili (Georgia) meet after the August 2018 Warsaw workshop for a concentrated follow-up. After Warsaw’s focus on project development, the Tbilisi workshop will concentrate on deepening the marketing aspects of their projects. For that, all participants will be supported by experienced professionals from the AV industry. Find more in todays press release. 
In its 7th edition SOFA – School of Film Agents invites up to eight professionals for intense
workshops to Warsaw (August 18 – 23, 2019), Tbilisi (April 25 – 30, 2020) and Vilnius
(September 17 – 21, 2020). We support film initiators, cultural managers and catalyzers with
unique project ideas in the AV world. Selected participants will be trained in various creative
fashions to reach local and international cinema-goers as well be given the opportunity
to make ties beyond borders. With the help of experienced lecturers, you will receive a
tailor-made coaching which enables you to realize your dream project efficiently. Our workshops connect you with decision makers and high-level professionals in the AV industry. The rest is up to you – make your dream come true! Download our Call for Proposals and submit your project until May 29, 2019. 
Only one week away is the start of the new SOFA workshop in Georgias wonderful capitol Tbilisi. Thanks to our amazing partners from Georgia and several other countries, we are able to present our expanded workshop training for the second time already. The program’s special quality is build upon its unique target group consisting of film culture managers from Middle and Eastern Europe, the republics of Caucasus and the Balkan States. Stay tuned! 
Another aspiring SOFA project has come to life! The new NaFilM National Film Museum located in the very centre of Prague was opened for the public on 15 January 2019. The project of SOFA participant Terezie Křížkovská was realised also thanks to a successful crowd funding campaign. The museum, with its interactive exhibits connecting film history and the present, targets all age groups and invites visitors to interact. Heartfelt congratulations from the whole SOFA team! 
Amazing news! The NaFilM: Národní filmové muzeum, a aspiring long-time project of Terezie Krizkovska, just made a huge step forward by collecting more than 20.000 Euros in a crowdfunding capaign on HitHit. It was one of the biggest (and last) steps towards the Czech film museum, that was developed at SOFA – School of Film Agents in 2016. Despite the Czech Republic’s rich film history, no museum focused on film existed beforehand. The aim of this project brings together university students from across the fields of film history and theory, stage design, architecture, art and curatorship to establish the film museum. Heartfelt congratulations! 
SOFA – School of Film Agents director Nikolaj Nikitin just had a great and fruitful visit in Tbilisi! He met with our dear local partners, supporters and friends: the first deputy minister Mikheil Giorgadze (Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia), Zurab Magalashvili (Director of the Georgian National Film Center), Levan Lomjaria (MEDIA Manager – Creative Europe Desk Georgia), Nino Tsulaia (Head of the Institute for Democratic Changes) and Ketie Danelia, former SOFA 2013 alumni and local project manager. The plans are set for the 2019 edition of the workshop, taking place in Tbilisi between April 1st – 6th! 
SOFA – School of Film Agents is proud to host it’s new workshop in wonderful Vilnius. The workshop is funded by the Lithuanian Film Centre (Lithuanian Films) and by the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt). After two days of intensive training with their instructors, participants will present their project ideas to financiers and representatives from a number of European public foundations. 
Oh no! Too soon! The first week of wonders within SOFA – School of Film Agents has just ended for our amazing participants and their mentors. Thank you all for your energy, will, experience, personality, wit, intelligence and dedication! We’ll meet again, soon! You can find many pictures and infos of the event also on our Facebook page. 
Welcome to Warsaw! The sixth edition of SOFA has started and six amazing talents in the field of film promotion flocked together to meet their mentors and tutors. Learn more about the upcoming SOFA days, our participants and mentors, on our Facebook-Page. Stay tuned! 
SOFA – School of Film Agents is very proud of the excellent support by a top-class line-up of experienced lecturers from all over Europe (and even from USA). Learn more about them here on our website. 
SOFA – School of Film Agents has selected an exclusive new group of six participants with their individual visionary projects from the field of film-related cultural management to take part in the annual unique pan-European think tank for the future of cinema. International industry experts provide them with creative support and expertise to strengthen their role as agents to the film industry and as ambassadors to the cinema audience. The 6th edition is starting August 26 – 31 in Warsaw. Learn more about the participants and their amazing projects here.
Many many great and interesting projects for the future of cinema reached us over the past few weeks during our call for proposals. The call is now closed and the team of SOFA – School of Film Agents is currently studying every single application very carefully. Around mid-July, we will contact all applicants. Thank you very much! 
Meanwhile in Lithuania: Dear SOFA participant Kestutis Drazdauskas is making significant progress on his plans to digitize the cultural centers in his homecountry and opened the first cinema hall in Klaipėda. Amazing premieres of highly significant films were on the schedule for the first days of this new cinema. Heartfelt congratulations! One of the many articles on the opening >here<. 
In its 6th edition SOFA–School of Film Agents invites eight young professionals for intense workshops to Warsaw and Tbilisi in August 2018 and April 2019. We don’t aim to educate film directors or producers. We support film initiators, cultural managers and catalysers with unique project ideas in cinema promotion. Eight selected participants will be trained in various creative fashions, to reach local and international cinema-goers, and given the opportunity to make ties beyond borders. Find all the information on how to apply, here in this document. 
After a week of wonders in our second Georgian edition of SOFA – School of Film Agents in Tbilisi, our magnificent seven participants received their diplomas from the hands of director Nicolaj Nikitin: Agnieszka Sękowska (Poland), Nikolai Lavreniuk (Belarus), Liina Maria Lepik (Estonia), Nino Chichua (Georgia), Angelos Tsaousis (Greece), Gitit Wainer (Israel) and Tara Karajica (Serbia). Thank you so much for your energy, will, experience, personality, wit, intelligence and dedication! Local partners, friends and guests joined the ceremony. Find more pictures and reports from the workshop on our Facebook page. 
Today, our magnificent seven participants flock together from all our Europe to reunite in wonderfull Tbilisi, Georgia for the second part of SOFA – School of Film Agents 2017/2018. So good to see you all again together at one place! We are up and ready for one week of intensive workshop talks, prenentations, screenings – and most of all: great new ideas for the future of cinema! Stay tuned with SOFA and have a look at our daily updates on our Facebook page. 
It was a very special and amazing edition of Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival with many many great encounters. The GNFC – Georgian National Film Center kindly invited SOFA – School of Film Agents members to their celebration to have a wonderfull Berlinale reunion. Have a look at our Facebook page. 
Amazing news! The SOFA project Fade to Her by Tara Karajica is now live and covered this years amazing edition of Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival, in which female filmmakers and women’s stories proved to be the big winners. Have a read! „Fade to Her“ is a magazine for and about women in Film, that you should get to know right now. Read, share, contribute and support this amazing project! Visit www.fadetoher.com and like the Facebook-Page Fade to Her, please. a workshop for up-and-coming film professionals
SOFA – School of Film Advancement invites young film agents for a workshop training to Warsaw (Poland), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Vilnius (Lithuania). The program’s special quality is its unique target group: SOFA is looking for professionals with previous experience in cultural management from Central or Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the republics of South Caucasus, Greece, Israel, Germany, or the MENA region. SOFA doesn’t aim to educate film directors or producers. We support culture promoters, mediators and catalyzers with unique film/cinema project ideas for the local and international audience in their country of origin – in all possible creative shapes.
SOFA helps its participants to make their innovative »dream project« come true and – at the same time – develops regional film culture and industry.
Curious?
Don’t sit on your couch: join SOFA!
